There are many superlatives lavished on entertainment manager Shep Gordon in the documentary “Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon.” But only one explains why the movie was really made. “Shep Gordon is the nicest person I’ve ever met, hands down,” Mike Myers earnestly tells the camera.

The movie is Myers’ directorial debut, and it feels like elaborate repayment for the ways Gordon has helped the comedian. Gordon does seem like a nice guy, and it’s reassuring to see that nice guys don’t always finish last, even in Hollywood. But the hero worship that powers the movie occasionally feels overblown, if not altogether cloying.

Gordon had an unlikely ascent that began after a failed career as a probation officer landed him at the Los Angeles hotel where Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix also had encamped. According to Gordon (whose memories are admittedly a little hazy), it was Hendrix’s idea for Gordon to become a manager and to represent Alice Cooper, with whom Gordon went on to have a lifelong friendship.

In fact, the managing gig was only a cover for Gordon’s drug-dealing business, but at some point, the Long Island native decided to keep to the straight and narrow, and his client list grew to include Pink Floyd (if only for a few days), Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass. In the meantime, he became friends with Michael Douglas, Sylvester Stallone, Emeril Lagasse, Willie Nelson and Tom Arnold, all of whom sing Gordon’s praises in the movie.

He also married a Playboy model (though their marriage was annulled soon after), cooked for the Dalai Lama, saved Groucho Marx from financial ruin, shared a cat with Cary Grant and dated Sharon Stone.

All the while, he repaid his debts. If someone did Gordon a favor, he never forgot, and if he burned any bridges, they aren’t evident here. Then again, neither of his former wives nor Stone gives interviews.

The movie is at its best when it’s looking at Gordon’s business savvy. He helped invent the Alice Cooper persona and even placed the ill-fated chicken onstage that launched Cooper’s moneymaking bad reputation. Gordon also is credited as the man who jump-started the celebrity chef trend and managed to make angelic Canadian songbird Anne Murray into a hip star thanks to a perfectly timed photo-op with John Lennon.

But one question remains: How much of this can we believe? When Gordon’s cousin calls him “the most wholesome person I’ve ever known,” it smacks of hyperbole, at best. How wholesome are multiday benders and Playboy Mansion skinny- dipping? And although Gordon makes a talented and easygoing storyteller, he isn’t necessarily the most reliable source. A story that involves seeing Pablo Picasso turns out to be false, because Picasso had been dead for years by the time Gordon said he saw the painter. Gordon was, he admits, “pretty high” at the time. But the stories — even the dubious ones — are better than the film’s dramatizations; having actors try to re-create scenes from the past is almost never a good idea.

The specter of a really interesting theme floats in and out of the movie, and it deals with Gordon’s loneliness. Here’s a guy who has worked hard and has a long list of celebrity friends to show for it. And yet, he’s still alone, living in Maui in a big house without the companion or kids he always wanted. The movie’s focus on good vibes and high times leaves little room to contemplate the more human story.

Regardless, the movie is good-natured and an enjoyable watch. If Myers really just wanted to show his appreciation, he went above and beyond.

‘SUPERMENSCH: THE LEGEND OF SHEP GORDON’

Directed by: Mike Myers

Starring: Shep Gordon

Rated: R, for language, nudity, sexual references and discussions about drug use

Should you go? If you believe Hollywood has nice guys. **-1/2

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Things to Do

The River City Sculpture Tour, which this year brought a moose, giant dragonfly and chokecherry tree to downtown Stillwater, has been such a success that the organizer is planning to make it bigger and better in 2017. Artist and tour founder Julie Pangallo said Tuesday that she plans to expand the to downtown Bayport. “The tour has been phenomenally well-received,” Pangallo...

Some holiday traditions have nothing to do with the holidays. Take, for example, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s annual December habit of performing most (and sometimes all) of J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg” Concertos, one of the consummate collections of large-scale chamber music or small-scale orchestral music.

Halfway through his first season hosting “A Prairie Home Companion,” mandolin maestro Chris Thile still feels “like a kid in a candy store” taking over the long-running popular public radio show created by Garrison Keillor — but knows he has to do one big thing. “I can be so much more of a relaxed host,” Thile said, sounding ebullient over...